The slender figure by the stone pillar turned to greet him. There was a beatific smile on her face, as if she were greeting a long-lost friend.

"Seth Alexander," she warmly said. She gently lifted a hand and reached out for him.

Severance immediately backed away. It might look like she was a loving sister, but he knew better. Loving sisters didn't use the name he hated.

"What are you?" he asked warily.

A quick look around showed nothing but fog. And Vast, who'd been next to him all this time, had vanished from view.

Carly's mocking laughter filled the air. She was her adult self this time, tall and beautiful in a way most young women could only hope to be. She even wore one of her favorite outfits: revealing booty shorts and a crop top that had the word Queen written across the bust. A gold bracelet adorned her wrist and her long brunette hair swept across her back in loose waves.

"Silly Seth," she cooed. "You know who I am. I'm your darling sister."

Suddenly she stood right in front of him, her manicured fingertips brushing lightly against his stomach. Instinctively, Severance's breath caught and he tensed.

"Don't you remember all the fun times we had?"

The world spun and tilted, and Severance found himself on his back. Faces were above him, blurry and indistinct. Several sets of hands pinned him down, holding his arms, shoulders, and ankles. Another body sat on his knees, immobilizing his legs. He struggled instinctively, yet the four girls managed to keep him down.

"Stop it! Let me go!"

The voice that came out of his mouth wasn't his. It was Seth's, full of fear and anxiety. What made it worse was that Severance knew this exact moment well. He knew exactly what was going to happen.

Carly's smiling face appeared overhead. She patted his cheek.

"Don't cry, Seth. We're just having some fun. You want to have fun, right?"

"No! I don't want this! Please, stop-!"

His voice was cut off when she pressed a piece of duct tape over his mouth. One of the other girls giggled. With a few more strips, Carly taped up his ankles, and then his wrists together, before getting one of her friends to hold his hands above his head.

It was humiliating, and even Severance, who had lived through this once before, found it unbearable. He struggled, but Seth gave up far too quickly, soon wheezing against the tape as he lay there helplessly, red faced. The other girls laughed at him.

"What are you going to do?" One of them asked Carly.

Carly just grinned. She held up a permanent marker and popped off the cap. Then she pulled up Seth's shirt, exposing his belly. The girls immediately grew excited, catching on to the idea.

Seth trembled and struggled not to whimper as the cold touch of the marker began to drag against his skin. Severance knew very well what was being written, over and over again:

Loser. Stupid. Useless. Dummy.

The girls' laughter blended together into a cloud of noise that hung over his head. Severance's throat closed up, and a black ball of anger began to churn.

No.

He would not accept this. He would not-!

A line of pain burned across his belly, so sudden that he froze up. He couldn't make a sound. What-?

Carly snickered. The marker in her hand had been switched out with a box knife. Seth started to whimper and sob.

Severance felt cold. So very cold. He wished this was just a twisted facet of this horrid illusion, but it wasn't.

Thin bloody lines soon appeared across his belly. The laughter of the other girls began to dim, as if they themselves couldn't believe that Carly was going so far. Severance remembered that this was the first and only time his sister would do this in front of the others. From then on, she'd only hurt him in private.

And he, like a fool, would let her, believing her threats to be much worse than a few simple cuts.

When Carly tugged his pants down and began cutting his thighs, Seth started to sob against the tape. Tears streaming down his face. Some of the cuts were shallow, but others were starting to bleed quite a bit. They'd scar.

Severance barely felt the pain. It was nothing. He glared up at her, seething. Tremors ran through him, and a terrible roar rushed through his head.

"This is all you're good at," Carly whispered. "You stupid, fat, loser."

No.

Everything in Severance rejected this. And with that, he grabbed the weak and terrified Seth and pulled him back. He surged forward and took over. In an instant, he yanked his hands free and broke apart the tape binding them.

The girl holding his wrists cried out in alarm. "You-!"

Severance sat up and grabbed Carly's wrist. With a quick wrench, he ripped the box knife from her hand. Her expression was frozen in complete shock.

He smiled icily at her, before spinning the knife around and jammed it into her throat. She choked, eyes widening, and in the backdrop, her friends screamed and scrambled back. Severance drew the blade across her throat, opening a crimson smile that was far more honest than the usual ones she gave.

"Get out of my head," he whispered to her.

The scene shattered in that instant. Shards flew past his face, cutting him, but he didn't care. The familiar fog rolled in, obscuring everything beneath a layer of numbing cold.

Somehow, the box knife was still in Severance's hand. He held it tightly, staring into the fog warily.

Beneath his furs, his injuries seeped blood. But he barely noticed. It was trivial. Barely a dent in his health bar.

After a moment, the fog swirled around him. When it cleared, he found himself standing in the hallway of his house. He was much younger, perhaps around eight or nine. From this point, he could clearly see the dining room, where his parents ate dinner with Carly.

The backs of his parents faced him, while just between them, he could see Carly's face across the table. She looked at him, and gave a smug grin.

"Thanks for dinner, Mommy," she said cutely. "It's really good!"

"You're welcome, sweetie." Their mother was so pleased with Carly, and carefully served her some more food. "You're so polite and smart!"

"Because you taught me," Carly giggled. Then she pointed towards Seth. "Oh, he came out again."

To that, their mother turned, and Severance saw a rather unpleasant expression on her face.

"Seth Alexander. What are you doing out of your room?"

Severance narrowed his eyes in displeasure, while Seth lowered his head. His voice was small. "I'm hungry."

"Tch." His mother looked annoyed. "Then you should have thought of that before ruining your sister's homework. Get back to your room or you can forget about eating tomorrow!"

Seth turned and reluctantly obeyed, tears stinging at his eyes. He hadn't done anything to Carly's homework. She'd ripped it up herself! But even when he'd tried to tell his mother that, all he got was a slap on the face.

Carly giggled softly as he retreated.

Severance gave a cold snort. What kind of lame scene was this? He'd long since given up on his parents.

With another mental yank, he pulled Seth aside. It was much easier this time.

Let me look after this, he thought.

He turned and marched into the kitchen.

"Seth!" His mother looked astonished at his arrival. "What are you doing? I told you to-"

Severance stood at the end of the table. "I don't need you. You've not my family and you never will be. So get out."

He raised a hand, which now held the box knife, and he slashed it down. The scene splintered. A whirlwind of shards shrieked around him, throwing flashes of sound and memories at him. He stood stiffly, rejecting them all.

That was his past. He didn't need it anymore. Those people had been abandoned by him and he refused to let them hurt him any longer.

The fog returned. And with it, a new figure appeared. But when Severance saw it, he faltered.

It was a man, tall and lanky with a slight stoop to his shoulders. This man looked weary, but his eyes were bright and warm when looked at Severance.

"Uncle Fenn," Severance whispered.

"Hey, Seth." The man came forward. He looked Severance over, and his smile only grew. "Look at you. You've grown a lot."

Severance didn't dare move. "Why are you here?"

There was dull pain in his chest, and he almost couldn't speak. Even if it was an illusion, seeing his uncle again was... too much.

"Seth, I..."

Severance didn't let him finish. He rushed forward and threw his arms around the man, squeezing as tight as he could. His eyes burned with unshed tears.

"Why did you have to die? Why did you have to leave? You have no idea how—" Severance's voice broke. How hard it was.

You left me alone!

There was a faint sigh near his ear, and then Severance felt his uncle's arms close around him. It was the first time they'd ever hugged. Severance had been averse to touch, but now all he could think about was why hadn't he hugged his uncle before? He regretted it so much!

"You feel that I abandoned you," Fenn softly said. "I'm so sorry, Seth."

Severance said nothing. He just rested his forehead against his uncle's bony shoulder. His arms tightened around Fenn's waist. He was afraid that Fenn would disappear like smoke.

"Let me go, Seth."

Severance shook his head. How could he? This was the only good thing from his past. And it too, had been stolen away from him. Now that he had a chance to see Fenn again, Severance was unwilling to let go.

A hand patted his back. "You can't hold on to me forever. You have to accept this."

"No," Severance stubbornly said.

Fenn let out a short chuckle, but it quickly died. "Seth, please. I don't want to have to do this. If you can't let go, then..."

"Why do I have to?" Severance lifted his head. "I don't want to! Do you know how much I wanted to see you again? Even if you're just a hallucination! There's so many things I never got to tell you. Please, uncle. Please... I can't..."

Fenn's eyes grew shadowed. He let go of Severance and stepped back, effortlessly breaking free of Severance's hold. "You don't need me anymore, Seth. You know how to rely on yourself now, don't you? You're strong and capable and I'm proud of you. So the next time you come here... you must let me go."

He took another step back into the fog. And then another, until it swallowed him whole.

"No!" Severance tried to run after him, but his legs buckled and he fell heavily to his knees. Blood splattered to the frost-covered ground beneath him. Startled, he looked down, only to find a horrendous hole in his chest.

How... how had...?

He covered it with a hand, his gaze lifting to the fog. There was silence for a long moment. And then Severance let out an agonized groan. He fell forward, only just catching himself with a forearm. His reddened nose hovered a mere inch above the ground. A crystalline drop of frozen water fell from his eyelashes and plinked onto the ground.

The pain of his injuries didn't even compare to what he felt within.

His health bar flashed orange and soon reached the red danger zone. Yet Severance didn't move. It wasn't until Vast found him and started whining and licking his face before Severance finally stirred.

He healed himself before getting up and silently walking back to the shelter. His fingers dug deep into the fur of Vast's neck. If he was holding on too tightly, the beast didn't protest. Vast just walked calmly at his side, his long tail lashing slowly side to side.

The three Fang were waiting. Severance looked at them and quietly shook his head once. He'd failed. To that, no one showed any surprise.

Eusebius merely scratched at his beard.

"We'll try again tomorrow," he said.

Severance just lowered his eyes, his fingers clenching tighter around Vast's fur.